Hydrogel-based Chemical and Biochemical Sensors
Abstract
Hydrogels are cross-linked polymer networks able to absorb or to release large amounts of water. The water uptake is associated with a considerable volume change. In doing so, hydrogels show remarkable properties: (i) The strong volume change can be excited by a large spectrum of different physical and (bio-) chemical quantities (ii) This swelling process is reversible (iii) The energy density of hydrogels is very high what easily enables miniaturization. Hence, hydrogel-based microsystems enable novel sensor solutions in microsystem technology with a high potential for miniaturization and cost-effective fabrication, in particular by using silicon-based MEMS technologies.
These properties of hydrogels can be easily exploited for chemical or biochemical sensors. This can be done simply by coupling the hydrogel to a corresponding transducer which converts the change in hydrogel properties into an electrical signal. Hydrogels can be specially tailored so that they are sensitive to a particular measurand.
However, in addition to good sensitivity, chemical sensors should also exhibit high selectivity, good long-term stability and short response times. The talk will present promising sensor concepts that are being worked on at the Institute for Solid-State Electronics.
Brief Biography
Gerald Gerlach received M.Sc. and Dr.-Ing. degrees in electrical engineering from the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, in 1983 and 1987, respectively. Between 1983 and 1991 he worked in research and development in the field of sensors and measuring devices for several companies. In 1993 he became a full professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at TUD and since 1996 he is Head of the Solid-State Electronics Laboratory there. His research is focused on sensor and semiconductor technology, simulation and modelling of micromechanical devices, the development of solid-state sensors and polymer-based actuators. He has (co-)authored more than 250 papers in scientific journals and is (co-)author and (co-)editor of 10 textbooks and monographies. He is also inventor or co-inventor of more than 50 patents. More than 75 PhD students have earned their doctorate under his supervision. Between 2012 and 2021 he served as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Sensors Journal.